Quote from: buckworks on August 31, 2021, 07:02:48 PM
Duh, isn't "never materialized" exactly the point?

That is always the problem with everything preventative. The ozone hole. Terrorist attacks. Bridge inspections. etc.

Perquimans County is one of the nearby NC counties with a very low vax rate.  Must be bodies in the street....

Perquimans County Schools revises mask policy, universal mask-wearing now required indoors
https://www.wavy.com/news/north-carolina/perquimans-county-schools-revises-mask-policy-universal-masks-now-required-indoors/

I'm seeing rural regional school boards reversing their mask policies as soon as reality kicks in.  I'm expecting some of them to be forced to go virtual in a few weeks. Hopefully, I'm wrong.

Fewer than 10 NC school districts still make masks optional amid rising COVID-19 cases

https://www.wral.com/fewer-than-10-nc-school-districts-still-make-masks-optional-amid-rising-covid-19-cases/19855189/

Britons, Unfazed by High Covid Rates, Weigh Their 'Price of Freedom'
Britain is reporting more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases a day, but the public seems to have moved on. Experts say this could be a glimpse into the future for other countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/28/world/europe/coronavirus-britain-uk.html

Quote"We don't seem to care that we have these really high infection rates," said Tim Spector, a professor of genetic epidemiology at King's College London who has been leading a major study of Covid-19 symptoms. "It looks like we're just accepting it now — that this is the price of freedom."

Some of that equanimity may stem from the fact that Britain's case rate, while high, has not yet risen anywhere near the level that government officials predicted when they lifted virtually all Covid restrictions last month. Some may be because so many Britons are vaccinated, fewer serious cases are being reported. And some of it may simply reflect fatigue, after 17 months of baleful headlines and stifling lockdowns.

Quote from: ergophobe on September 02, 2021, 11:31:08 PM
Britons, Unfazed by High Covid Rates, Weigh Their 'Price of Freedom'
Britain is reporting more than 30,000 new coronavirus cases a day, but the public seems to have moved on. Experts say this could be a glimpse into the future for other countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/28/world/europe/coronavirus-britain-uk.html

Quote"We don't seem to care that ......

deaths are not high like they were:
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=current+covid+deathe+rate+graph+uk

thats the high vac rate, and possibly that its summer.  The big question is can the hospitals cope, the back log of other stuff is horrendous. A mate just paid £15k for a hip opp, as at under 60 years old the wait for the NHS was too long. Life is too short, he needs to be out biking with me

>>thats the high vac rate

OTOH...
Israeli study on viral load, Delta infections, vaccinations and boosters
https://www.news-medical.net/news/20210906/Israeli-study-on-viral-load-Delta-infections-vaccinations-and-boosters.aspx

QuoteThe findings revealed that the two-dose regimen of the BNT162b2 vaccine is highly effective in reducing viral loads of delta breakthrough infections during the initial two months post-second dose vaccination. Compared to unvaccinated individuals, vaccinated individuals exhibited 15-fold lower viral loads, which is similar to that observed in breakthrough infections by non-delta variants. However, the protection against viral load started reducing after two months of the second vaccine dose, followed by a complete diminution after 6 months.

Wow.. My estimate was 20 fold improvement from rough calcs in the UK.

That decline is worrying. We have a booster coming soon.

The BBS show "More or Less" discussed this study.

There is a lot to sort out, but I'll try to summarize as accurately as I can plus some subsequent reading.

Antibodies have a half life. For measles, it's 200 years. For tetanus it is 11 years. It's looking like for Covid it may only be a few months.

But the immunological response depends on a combination of antibodies and memory B cells that can produce more antibodies. So it's not clear that antibody levels falling to "naive" levels is the same as the immunological response returning to naive levels.

Measures of antibody levels is merely a proxy. The best indicators will be infection rates, hospitalization rates and death rates. It seems like the vaccine is not holding up that well against simple infection, but is still holding up well against severe illness, perhaps because the memory B cells have that memory and can ramp up to produce antibodies faster than in a naive patient.

What would be most helpful is epidemiological studies.

>> booster

I'm ambivalent about this. The head of the WHO has likened this to throwing out a second life preserver to someone who's life preserver is getting frayed while there are others who still have no flotation device at all.

And if it's true that the life preserver is already waterlogged and starting to sink, it still raises the question of how many life preservers we throw at rich mostly healthy people when high-risk poor people are still waiting for one.

Some light reading


Immunological memory cells
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6102609/

On a lighter note ...

We we on the UK trains and asked how to get to Leicestershire.  Got a great laugh from all around us.  Still irks Louise.

^{Let's see if this really happens.}

"NEW: The President will announce that all employers with 100 or more employees will be required to mandate COVID-19 vaccines or require testing at least once a week, and they'll have to provide paid time off."

Joe Biden goes nuclear, will mandate COVID vaccines (or testing) for most private employees.
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/09/biden-mandates-covid-vaccines-or-testing-private-employees.html

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul imposes mask mandate on omicron Covid worries

https://www.cnbc.com/2021/12/10/ny-gov-kathy-hochul-imposes-statewide-mask-mandate-amid-spread-of-omicron-covid-variant.html

NC's COVID case positivity rate nearly 30%; local hospitals near capacity

https://www.wral.com/coronavirus/nc-s-covid-case-positivity-rate-nearly-30-local-hospitals-near-capacity/20062351/

90% of patients hospitalized in Duke Health's ICU units are unvaccinated
Every patient in the Duke Health system on the highest level of life support is unvaccinated

UF report: Up to 80% of FL will have caught COVID-19 by end of omicron wave

https://www.wesh.com/article/uf-report-majority-floridians-catch-covid-omicron-wave/38686256